Some Lawsuits I have Met and some of the Lessons to be Learned from Them

Abstract

They Paid for an Old Osteo-Arthritis THIS was an instance of a woman occupant of a rapidly speeding automobile which ran into a street car that had the right of way and was crossing a boulevard. Suit was filed against the corporation operating the street car. The writer was called by the defendant to testify as an expert witness. The trial occurred in 1925 before a jury of average intelligence. While there may have been some question as to the liability, there was no question as regards the injury—she certainly was not injured. After qualifying me as an expert in roentgenology, direct examination was begun by defendant's attorney. The questions are omitted, but may be inferred from the answers. A. The film marked “Plaintiff's exhibit A,” which I hold in my hands, is a roentgenogram or x-ray film of a human thorax (except the upper portion) and a part of the abdomen. The lower nine dorsal vertebræ are normal, or nearly so, in outline and form, except that the lower four of them have what we call osteophytes at the angles of the bodies. A. The intervertebral discs are the soft cartilage portions of the spinal column which render it flexible. These are cushions between the bodies of the bones. A. Osteophytes are the result of more or less constant inflammation, usually in some other part of the body. They are made up of bony or calcific deposits upon the angles of these bones. In this film they are on four vertebræ. There are similar exostoses or bony or calcific deposits on several of the ribs. A. I also note that the heart is somewhat enlarzed to the right and left in that portion called the ventricles. This enlargement is probably due to the same cause, that is, a long-standing chronic disease. A. There are also some calcific deposits in the lungs. These are calcified glands, which are probably the result of early childhood disease. A. The film marked “Exhibit B” is evidently a roentgenogram of the thorax, showing a diagonal view of an adult female In the bodies of the vertebræ in this film, the osteophytes or calcific deposits show much more clearly, because we see the anterior or front surface of the bodies of these bones. The angle is probably exaggerated in this view, and the deposits show somewhat larger than they really are. Normally the outline is slightly rounded, and these places in this film are angular and sharp. The so-called angle of the bodies of the vertebræ is increased by the deposits. A. I can see this deposit on the bodies of five vertebræ in this film. A. No, there is nothing abnormal about the height of the bodies of the vertebræ. A. I mean what is ordinarily known as lipping. That is a term used by those who handle these roentgenograms and make diagnoses from them—e-x-ray specialists.